A great vegan recipe, Baba Ganoush is often overlooked because of the double process. First you need to fry the eggplants, then peel them and prepare the recipe then there’s the smell and the smoke.

Well, I found a shortcut, and the result is as yummy as you’ve tasted it. It also avoids the smoke and doesn’t bother anyone with the nasty smell. The only smell in my recipe serves as appetizer. Here it is:

Ingredients:

– 2-3 medium sized eggplants

– 2-3 onions

– salt

– olive oil (or other oil of your choice)

Optional:(add 5 min. to preparation time)

– the squeezed juice of 1/2 a lemon

– a clover of parsley

– 2-3 egg yolks from boiled eggs – but then it isn’t vegan anymore

You will also need:

– a peeling knife or a plain kitchen all-purpose knife

– a chopping tray

– a non-stick frying pan and wooden spatula/spoon

– a strainer and a bowl

– a mixer

– bread and a plate for serving

Preparation:

1. Wash the eggplants and peel them of the dark skin. Move fast, but don’t chop your fingers. The white flesh will get a darker color if you take too long, but keep the lemon juice at hand, it helps against this natural process of oxidation.

2. Chop the peeled eggplants into sugar cube-sized pieces or smaller. If you didn’t add the lemon juice in step 1, now is the time to do it.

3. Put a spoon of olive oil in the frying pan on the cooking stove and add the chopped eggplants. Don’t put them all in one session. Only cover the bottom of the pan and leave the rest for a second session.

4. Add more oil if they ask for it and keep stirring with the wooden spatula so as none of the pieces gets over fried. This should last several minutes, until the eggplants lose some steam, they shrink a little and become tender and slightly dark-green.

5. Put the fried eggplant pieces in the strainer and above a bowl and leave it there because you’ve got another round of chopped eggplant to fry.

6. Repeat steps 3 to 5.

7. Once you’ve fried all your eggplants, peel the onions and cut them in 6 or 8. Don’t bother to chop them by hand. Here’s what the mixer is for.

ADVICE: To avoid the dreaded “onion tears” you can either take a mouthfull of cold water and keep it in your mouth throughout the peeling/cutting process or chew gum and breathe through your mouth.

8. Divide the onions and fried chopped eggplants into equal portions to fit into your mixer, because you want the onions spread throughout the entire salad.

9. Put the onions close to the blade, then the chopped eggplants, add salt to taste. Also, if you want to add the egg yolks, cut them in 4 and put them closer to the blade as well. Mix well.

10. Repeat the mixing process if your mixer doesn’t accommodate the entire quantity in one session.

11. It should be mildly warm, but it’s ready for serving. Arrange the salad onto a plate, ornate with a clover of parsley and serve with crusty bread.

Welcome…

...to this playground!
Vicious, malicious kids are not allowed.
This is a place for fun and all things nice
that make us in our daily lives forget the wheel of time.
No, not an opium for our sense of measure,
but a mere meaning to its restlessness.

Thought of the Day

Sat.Nov.13th 2011
St. Augustin said: "If you have been wronged by a bad man, you should forgive him, so that there won't be two bad persons in the world..." I ask of you, what if that bad person continues to be bad?
You can answer in any comment on any post.